Advisor to Mehdi Karroubi Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

Ismail Gerami Moghadam, spokesman for the National Trust Party and advisor to Mehdi Karroubi, one of the candidates who contested the results of the 2009 presidential elections, has been sentenced to five years in prison. Mr. Gerami Moghadam received this prison sentence while he had been temporarily released from Evin Prison on Tuesday, October 21, after three months of detention, on a bail of one billion tomans. This ruling was issued by one of the branches of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided over by Judge Salavati. His lawyer, Nemat Ahmadi, stated in an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran on Tuesday, November 4, that this sentence has been communicated to his client, but he has not yet seen it. He said, "Mr. Gerami Moghadam has been sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy against the regime, and we will appeal this ruling within the legal timeframe of 20 days." Nemat Ahmadi pointed out that interviews, statements, and declarations that Mr. Gerami Moghadam had organized with other former representatives abroad were cited as examples of his charges. According to him, Ismail Gerami Moghadam had previously been sentenced in absentia to one year in prison for 'propaganda against the regime.' Nemat Ahmadi stated that Ismail Gerami Moghadam has lost 95 to 97 percent of his eyesight, saying, "Mr. Gerami Moghadam cannot even distinguish light and has fallen several times in prison; he is unable to perform his own tasks, and prison, which is a crowded environment, is not suitable for someone with these characteristics." He added, "Forensic medicine and the doctor of Evin Prison have stated that Mr. Gerami Moghadam is unable to endure imprisonment, so if the appeals court also rules for his imprisonment, we will approach it from a medical perspective, as he is incapacitated and unable to endure imprisonment." Nemat Ahmadi also mentioned that his client is a victim of the Iran-Iraq war and continues to suffer from the pain of shrapnel that remains in his body. Ismail Gerami Moghadam, who went to India and Malaysia for further studies in 2010, was arrested by security agents at Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran upon his return to Iran on July 17. According to his lawyer, the reason for this arrest was the execution of a one-year prison sentence that had been issued in absentia against him. According to the Kaleme website, close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mr. Gerami Moghadam was held in solitary confinement for 45 days after his arrest and then transferred to the general ward.